Children in Scientology and the Sea Organization
Download this document as a pdf Children are mature "thetans" }} Scientologists believe children are ageless souls in small bodies. What religions call the "soul" and philosophy terms "consciousness" - is called a "thetan" in Scientology. Since thetans are forever mature, a child thetan requires no special nurturing. How child thetans are cared for in Scientology is best understood in light of two fundamental church beliefs: 1.) Reincarnation 2.) Cartesianism These beliefs have a profound effect on how children are treated in Scientology. A child is expected to act as an adult, and work as an adult, because a thetan has been an adult in prior lifetimes. A child’s deficiency is simply the temporary physical limitation imposed by a smaller body. According to Ex-Scientology Kid - Karen Wolf: }} As "Anonmom" describes: }} Additionally, since a thetan is a mature "able-being", a child has the same responsibility to work and pay it’s way as an adult. Scientology teaches that every human interchange requires fair compensation. Failure to compensate for something received is called "out-exchange" and children are not exempt. A child must contribute the equivalent work of an adult to pay for food, clothing, or shelter. One "Ex-Scientology-Kid" (ESK) described her parents’ Scientology beliefs: Mom especially believed kids were just thetans in small bodies, "able beings" who should not be allowed to go out exchange and therefore out ethics... | }} Another Ex-Scientology Kid relates: }} Left unsupervised Scientology’s conviction that children are mature souls devalues physical and psychological nurturing. Thetans don't require nurturing. They are also capable of taking care of themselves. As a result, parental supervision is not a high priority in Scientology. }} }} Dormitories and communal living Children live in dormitories or nurseries separate from parents employed on Scientology staff or in the cult’s Sea Organization. "Family time" is set at 1 hour per day, when children share a meal with parents, typically in a crowded cafeteria "Dolphinlover" describes her living arrangements at age 6 ½: ..."Family Time" was scheduled as one hour a day at dinner time for my Mom to come over and visit us!! But only if my Mom’s stats were up and her org stats were up...My mother came to see us, but it was inconsistent. I never knew if she was coming or not. I remember living in the children’s berthing...My baby sister was in a crowded nursery in a small crib, and I was in a dorm like room with about 5 other girls around my age. I was 6 1/2 years old. I was not allowed to see my baby sister, however I would sneak up to the nursery room and visit her sometimes. My Mom lived in a building across town for Sea Org staff members...None of my other family members were scientologists, so I had no contact with any of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. ...during this time. I cried a lot, missing my Mom, missing my grandparents, and my Dad...Mostly I cried when nobody could see me. | }} Transitioning to a communal lifestyle in a Scientology dormitory can be distressing for a young child. The little bit of home life and personal space they once enjoyed may be shattered when their parents get caught up in Scientology’s zeal to "clear the planet". "Ex-cadet" recalls her experience at age 9: }} Not much sympathy and nurturing Sympathy for children is often in short supply since Scientology considers human emotion a spiritual weakness. Many Ex-Scientology-Kids suggest that the lack of nurturing hindered their emotional development. According to "rose129": }} Work assignments at distant locations keep parents separated from their children for long periods. Scientology staff and Sea Organization members are expected to take up new duties, anywhere in the world, at a moments’ notice. In that regard, communal child-care serves the church, but possibly not the children who have no idea when their parents may return. Children are not part of a family unit, they are part of Scientology’s production machinery. The overall scene is well depicted by Stephen Fishman: }} Industrial strength child-care Like a modern factory, Scientology organizations manage every activity by production statistics. These industrial efficiency tools may be useful in Scientology’s accounting and production departments, but are not what most people consider appropriate to child rearing. Raising children in a ‘production environment’, Scientology relies on the older children to help untrained nannies to keep up with the work flow. Anyone able to stand on two feet and follow simple instructions were allowed to feed the babies. Yep. That would be me. We would all help feed the babies. So they cooled off the bottles and we all helped feed them. They were in the back wing of the building from the "big kids" like me and my brother. | }} Scientology nannies are typically responsible for far too many children. Abusive practices arise as the result of frustration and inexperience: }} Facilities for children are inadequate and unpleasant. Like most Scientology staff, ‘nannies’ are severely overworked. I told the nanny the name of the little boy I came to pick up and she had a hard time telling which kid was which. I wondered why she didn’t seem to know the kids that she was supposed to be watching. She finally found the boy I came for who said that was his name and I took him to his mom. I just couldn’t believe that those children were sleeping on the floor as every building I saw in the SO was infested with cockroaches. Maybe that is why the lights were blaring. | }} Medical treatment Children receive little medical attention and have to ‘tough out’ illness. Scientologists believe disease is negative energy "pulled-in" by a thetan. Since children are thetans illness is something they bring upon themselves. Illness is not the result of germs or viruses, so medicine is inefficacious. Scientology spiritual "technology" is the only real cure for disease, so there’s not much to be done for children. As a result, Scientology parents and caregivers often neglect the earaches and fevers so common with children. }} }} }} Two weeks sauna As mature thetans, children also partake in the same rigorous training protocols as adult Scientologists. Two weeks (or more) of repetitive stints in a scalding sauna, while taking large doses of vitamins (particularly Niacin) is one of Scientology’s first training routines. Scientology calls this the "Purification Run-down" and it has caused severe medical distress even for adults. Medical authorities have warned that the program can cause liver and kidney damage. Nonetheless, even preschoolers take part in "the purif". "Rose129" was first put on the "purif" at age 5: }} "Doublevee" did the 'purif' and other Scientology training at ages 7 through 9: }} "Ex-cadet" did the "purif" at age 8: }} "Hard Sell": Recruitment into the Sea-Org See also: Aaron Saxton's videos, Scientology's Sea Org recruits minors Like kids everywhere, children in Scientology want to emulate and be praised by their parents. The church takes advantage of this enthusiasm to recruit children into Scientology’s paramilitary Sea Organization. Scientology depicts the Sea Organization as a dashing, elite corps, with a special mission - making it especially attractive to youngsters. }} Sea-Org recruiters use hard-sell tactics to get youngsters to sign "billion year contracts" even though few even understand what a contract means. The recruiters usually approach and solicit these children without the permission or knowledge of their parents. These recruitment tactics are often described as lying and abusive: }} }} I remember there was one recruiter around PAC base who got it in his head that my friend - we'll call her M - was interested in joining. M did not want to join at all when the whole thing started, and she was only 15 at the time. The recruiter followed her around harassing her for 5 days straight...She joined. I have no idea where she is now. | }} Sea-Org recruitment tactics are so unfair, that one regretful (former) Scientology recruiter posted a public apology to the ‘Ex-Scientology-Kids’ message board: }} The Sea Organization performs many functions in Scientology, but for the most part it supplies a flexible labor force to the church. Unfortunately, Sea-Org recruits, attracted by the image of handsome uniforms with gold braid, usually wind up serving in clerical, janitorial, construction and maintenance functions in Scientology’s ‘Estates Project Force’. Youngsters who join the Sea Organization usually find it’s not the exciting and romantic experience they expected. Instead they embark on the heavy stage of Scientology indoctrination. Many describe the long hours of repetitive drill, manual labor and verbal abuse as mind control, likened to the kind of discipline associated with the military. When u are an EPFer u are sort of a soldier/marine/slave. They say that the EPF is like the beginning, like the base of a building...In the EPF u are supposed to prove how much pressure u are willing to take. It’s like an introduction to all the slavery and screaming and cruelty u see later on...it was more of the stage were u are a total nobody to anyone. U are reported just for forgetting to call an SO member sir...Plus there’s the million stupid rules u have: no sugar whatsoever...no music...No free time EVER (not on your birthday, not even if u were so out of clothes that anyone who was an outsider would’ve thought u were a bum) actually if u wanted to buy any personal thing u had to use ur only half -an-hour meal break and once I was actually reported by an SO member that found me in a store 2 minutes after the brake cause I was supposed to be with my group. And also no reading unless it was a tech book. So like I said, we were sort of like gray shirted soldiers. | }} Unlawfully overworked Children work long hours at demanding tasks in the Sea Organization. In public interviews, Scientology officials misrepresent this work as chores of the kind that any youngster might do at home or in school. The reality is much different. "Ex-Cadet" describes: There was this time were the Tampa org was about to get finished. They would send huge groups of EPFers Project Force workers over there...They only had a sandwich to eat mostly and would spend up to even 5 days with no sleep working on the building. Other normal jobs for EPFers was lifting up huge boxes and bags and things that weighted as much as we did but they didn’t really care. | }} Youngsters assigned to the "Commodore’s Messengers Organization" take care of laundry and other chores for Scientology executives. "Commodore" refers to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard who created the "Messengers Organization" as his personal staff. }} Naturally, a primary job of Sea-Org youngsters is to take care of younger children: }} Penal discipline: The "Rehabilitation Project Force" Very heavy labor is a disciplinary action in Scientology. Kids (being kids) sometimes break rules. Refractory youngsters in the Sea-Org are assigned to Scientology’s "Rehabilitation Project Force". The "RPF" is a penal labor camp isolated from the rest of Scientology. Sea-Org members of any age may be punished on the RPF. We also had to pound the solid concrete floor inside where the current CLO is (behind AOLA) for hours. That was where the old hospital used to do testing on animals and they put them on these concrete blocks in cages so they could turn on a shower to clean them all. That was so tiring. And we had to dig out all the dirt for the parking lot across from the HGB to build the transformer building. I almost permanently damaged my back doing that. I was shovelling dirt all day long and the next day I could barely breath. My in charge checked out my back and told me it was all purple and swollen on one side. So I went to a Scn doctor and they told me that I ripped all the muscles in my back and dislocated two ribs! (I was 16 I think). I wonder if I had gone to a WOG doctor, what would they have thought of all that? | }} Manual labor and enforced physical exercise (mostly running) are common punishments in Scientology, for all ages. Not surprisingly, youngsters endure this better than adults. Some even suggest that ‘at the time’ the experience was, ‘fun’. And while most ex-Sea-Org-kids agree their time would have been better spent in school, some (like Bea) claim the construction projects and manual labor was instructive. }} Schooling is minimal Schooling for children varies with the affluence of the Scientology parent, but is generally haphazard. Thetans don’t require schooling because of all they've learned in prior lifetimes. School subjects are usually restricted to the writings and methods of L. Ron Hubbard. Scientology teachers are typically not certified by the state and the schools not accredited. For Sea-Org members, work takes priority over schooling. Educational instruction is sacrificed to projects and fitted around work assignments, to the point that it becomes largely meaningless. Many Ex-Scientology Kids ("ESKs") claim that the bulk of their education came from personal reading, consisting mostly of Hubbard’s books). }} I can recall being made to feel like I was better than "wog" (non-Scientologist) kids who went to public school, because they were being fed a bunch of false data, being forced by the psychs to take pills and not having the knowledge of study tech, so in turn their education was worthless. When in reality my wog friends would talk about subjects and ideas I had never even heard, while we were all in the same grade. I honestly feel like proper schooling was robbed from me because of the school I went to. I had asked several times as a kid to be sent to public school, but Scientologist adults around me filled my head with rhetoric and lies... | }} Sexual abuse Tragically, the worst possible abuses befall children whose Scientology parents neglect them in the belief that as thetans they "pull in" whatever evil may occur. Sexual assault and physical abuse are far too prevalent, I was still a virgin at the time and did not know what was happening. All I know is that it hurt and I cried. When he was done, he slapped me and called me a whore. | }} Jennifer, a 16 year old staff member, was repeatedly raped by her Scientology supervisor, Gabriel Williams. Convicted of sexual battery and sodomy, Williams is a registered sex offender in the state of California. I spent the rest of that night trying to comfort Jennifer. I asked whether Gabriel did this, she said "yes". She finally admitted that Gabriel had raped her. It was clear to me that Gabriel had threatened Jennifer’s life and had raped her and choked her. | }} In Florida, Scientologist Tony Strawn was convicted of sexual battery: The reason that these documents are included in this Web site is because the Church of Scientology directed that the mother not report the incident to the proper authorities, because the church could "handle" Strawn's "aberration". This act is a federal crime in the United States of America. These documents come from the filings in case CRC94-12575CFANO, and the originals are in the Felony Records Department of the Pinellas County Criminal Court. Because of the victims' ages, their full names have been stricken from these copies of the documents, as has the name of the mother. | }} In 2009, Scientologist Ben Kasle was charged molesting a 13 year old girl: Twenty-one-year-old Ben Kasle is charged with two counts of gross sexual imposition. Investigators say he had sex with the girl who is now 14-years-old. Police records indicate the alleged offenses happened at the church on Fourth Street between October 2007 and September 2008. An attorney representing the church says the church is aware of the investigation and is cooperating with police, however, the church has no comment since the investigation is ongoing. He is due in court on May 6th. | }} "Thetans" don't have families The unorthodox treatment and abuse of children in Scientology results from many factors. Nonetheless, there's little doubt the mistreatment is undergirded by Scientology's fundamental belief that children are mature thetans packaged in a small body. There are no families among thetans. Thetans are god-like individuals with dominion over "matter, energy, space, and time." Children are ageless thetans who choose their parents in order to "pick up a body" in which to be reborn. Parents serve only a biological function in creating the "meat-body" a ‘thetan’ can inhabit. A thetan is on a passage to eternity. Scientology places family as just one out of eight "dynamics" a thetan relates to in the course of its journey. In practice this simply means the family must accept the thetan as a Scientologist. Any family member critical of Scientology impedes the thetan’s passage and must be shunned, which the church terms "disconnection." The thetan and it's relationship to Scientology is the fundamental feature of the universe. The first principle in Scientology is "survive". A thetan survives by adherence to Scientology doctrine and dedication to the church. No matter how much the church of Scientology tries to propagandize that it helps families, all that can ever mean, is – Scientology helps families understand they are NOT families, but individual thetans - that’s Scientology’s foundational doctrine! All these facets that devalue the family are well illustrated in this account of a young Sea Org member trying to get permission to go home for Christmas. }} The "internal staff member's" concluding response summarizes Scientology’s doctrine and attitude toward family quite succinctly. Thetans don’t have families. Parents are no more than "genetic entities." The thetan’s relationship to the family is unimportant and merely biological. As this Scientology executive tells bushkaGND, }} Aftermath: Physical and emotional trauma Finally and most tragically, Scientology youngsters suffer physical and emotional scars, some that may never heal -- separated from their parents, taught that family serves merely a biological function, indoctrinated, deprived of schooling, suppressed for acting like children, tricked into menial jobs and impressed labor, corporally punished, forced into adult trials long before adulthood -- in sum these youngsters are abused. }} }} I couldn’t escape the madness and I lost my faith in God after this, because after all, how could a God allow such horrible things to happen and such lunatic men, gain control over people’s lives ... Do you know what happens to kids who grow up in abusive households? They suffer from PTSD, and Scientology is like growing up and being in an abusive family. The scars still linger, and after years and years of counseling, meds and prayer, I’m relatively sane from all of this, although I almost didn’t make it. I wanted to die, I tried to die, many times. | }} Some children do not "escape the madness" -- the fortunate fact that others, like Chris, do survive is a modern miracle. References Category:Operation press pack Category:Copied from Chanology Wiki